AstroTalentSpace Jobs

Principal Mission Architect - EO/IR Verified today

Muon Space · Remote · Payload · first seen 2026-07-16
Apply at Muon Space →

About the role

Muon seeks a Principal Mission Architect and mission formulation lead to join our mission development team to help direct the development of new mission architectures. The ideal candidate is a self-motivated versatile engineer with experience in EO/IR, persistent infrared or MW/MT/MD missions, who can work with customers to identify their true needs, manage a team of engineers to develop a cost-effective solution, and perform a range of mission-level analyses, develop requirements, and design a practical and cost-effective space mission.

Responsibilities

  • Develop a complete mission concept based on customer needs
  • Perform mission-level analysis and own all top-level mission budgets
  • Requirements definition and design for the mission and a variety of mission payloads
  • Leverage software tools and/or writing code to explore engineering trade studies and answer system design questions
  • Understand key metrics and spacecraft and payload design trades, and work effectively with Muon's instrument design team
  • Perform spacecraft performance and constellation configuration evaluation
  • Collaborate with other discipline engineers and scientists to ensure the product meets objectives

Qualifications

  • B.S. or higher degree in a related engineering field plus 12 years of experience working with space missions. Higher-level degrees count for 2 years experience each if they are in relevant topics
  • Excellent communication, presentation, and coordination skills
  • Dedication to drawing conclusions based on the most important factors and data available
  • Spacecraft design experience
  • Space mission design experience
  • Software skills in one or more of Python, Julia, Matlab, C, C++
  • Ability to travel to the Mountain View facility to support in-person meetings, build, and test
  • Comfort working in a fast-paced environment with new challenges each week
  • Active TS/SCI clearance

Nice-to-have Skills

  • Infrared Instrument experience or mission experience in missile warning, tracking and defense
  • Experience supporting science teams to develop missions
  • Experience designing constellations
  • Spacecraft and/or constellation operations experience

Compensation

Salary range: $174,000 to $250,000, plus incentive compensation, competitive equity grant and comprehensive benefits package. Final compensation determined based on skills, qualifications, experience, and geographic location.

Benefits

Full-time employees receive equity compensation, medical/dental/vision insurance, 401k retirement plan, short and long term disability and life insurance, three weeks paid vacation, 12 paid holidays, unlimited sick time and paid parental leave.

ITAR/Export Control

This position requires access to export controlled information. Applicant must be a U.S. person (U.S. citizen, national, lawful permanent resident, refugee, or asylee), eligible to access export controlled information without authorization, or eligible and reasonably likely to obtain required export authorization from the applicable U.S. government agency.